


Code: LYOKO

by TBOC



Series: Code: LYOKO [1]
Category: Code Lyoko
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Jerlita, Kadic Academy, Lyoko, Mystery, Science Fiction, The Factory, Ulumi, Will add characters and additonal tags as needed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-11
Updated: 2014-04-28
Packaged: 2017-12-23 03:09:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/921301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TBOC/pseuds/TBOC
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jeremie Belpois is a new student at Kadic Academy. After exploring the abandoned factory near the school for scraps, he finds something else - a supercomputer, deactivated and hidden away. Upon activating it, he discovers Lyoko - a entire virtual universe with monsters and landscapes. He also meets Aelita, an AI in the form of a human girl, trapped inside the supercomputer.</p><p>After he computer is turned on, attacks start on earth. In over his head, Jeremie strikes up unlikely friendships with three of his classmates to combat the evil unleashed from the supercomputer, to free Aelita from her digital prison, and all in all, create a world without danger.</p><p>(A re-telling of the events of Code Lyoko, written with my personal headcanons in mind, and some original content. Sticks to canon storyline, and introduces no OC's. Main shippings incude JxA, UxY, and OxS. Intended to be a slighter darker version of the story as well.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. September 1st, 2002

**

September 1st, 2002

**

Jeremie Belpois watched silently out of the window as the morning sun rose. He had been sitting in a car for the last hour, and was fairly tired of it, not that he was complaining though.

Today was the first day for boarding students to move into the dormitories at Kadic Academy. He had been woken up by his father at 5 in the morning to start packing and drive out to the school, which he lived an hour or so away from. He had said goodbye to his mother and left with his father to move into the dorm he’d call home for the next year. 

Jeremie was nervous. School had never been hard for him, nor would it ever for a person of his intellect. Jeremie was incredibly intelligent for his age, so much that his parents sent him to Kadic, which was supposed to be a high-quality school for kids his age. Grades weren’t what worried him.

He had never felt completely comfortable at school. He didn’t make friends easily, nor did he relate to many people very well. His intelligence often created a barrier around him that no one seemed to want to disturb. Sometimes it’s rather lonely to be so smart, he’d think.

However, the time alone allowed him to hone his skills at programming and designing robots, both being big hobbies of his. He had spent numerous hours constructing robots out of scrap he had found, sketching out schematics, and programming them to move, pick up items, or whatever he pleased. Jeremie was looking forward to see what kind of programs they had for robotics at Kadic, or if anyone else was interested in them.

“Are you okay Jeremie? You look a bit worried.” his father commented, looking over at his son, who had been staring blankly out of the window for a solid ten minutes now.

“what?” Jeremie asked, snapping out of the trance he’d been in.

“You looked a little upset. Are you nervous about school? I could imagine being so, I was too when I went to Kadic, but it gets better, much better after a little while. I met some of my best friends in the world there, you know”

Jeremie smiled a little. His dad’s words were encouraging, and his dad had usually given him good advice. He did doubt meeting friends he’d keep his whole life, though.

“I even met your mom there. Who knows? You might meet a special someone...” his father said with a smile. Jeremie returned it with a weak smile of his own, rolling his eyes at the thought. He doubted he’d even meet friends, much less someone else...

After a little while longer, the car slowed to a stop in front of rather official looking gates. Jeremie and his dad got out, and began taking out the boxes and cases of Jeremies belongings. Many other students were doing the same, and they all appeared to go into one of the large center buildings he assumed was the dorms.

Once inside, he stood in line for a moment, waiting for a large man in a red jacket to give him his room number.

“New student?” the man asked in a gruff, yet friendly voice. Perhaps noticing the nervous look on Jeremie’s face, he continued. “The name’s Jim Morales, I’m the physical education teacher here at Kadic. You’re boarding here, aren’t you? What’s your name?”

“uh.. Belpois. Jeremie Belpois, seventh grade.” he said, shifting the weight of one of his bags to take the slip of paper handed to him.

“Boy’s rooms are on the second floor of the building. I will give you all the rules later, so you do not by any chance break them, though you don’t seem the type, do yah, Belpois?”

“uh.. no sir...” he said, still slightly nervous. Without another word he awkwardly shuffled out of the line and to the staircase leading upwards. After achieving victory over the forces of gravity, Jeremie managed to carry his bags to what seemed to be the boys dormitories. Walking down the hall for a few minutes, he spotted a room labeled “JEREMY BELPOIS”. Cringing a little at the misspelling of his name, he opened the door and stepped in.

The room was very basic, including a bed in the left corner of the room, and a large wardrobe to his right. A simple computer desk sat straight in front of his, directly under a window.

He set his bags down, slowly taking in the room. It’d take very little for him to get comfortable here, so at least living at Kadic wouldn’t be as bad.

His father made his way into the room, carrying with him the last box of Jeremie’s items. Walking over to his son, he clasped his shoulder.

“Now don’t forget to call us, you know how worried your mother gets.” he said. Jeremie nodded, giving him a look that said he knew. 

“Bye, Jeremie! I’ll pick you up again during the holidays. Front gate where I dropped you off, okay?” his father told him, walking up to the door.

“Okay, dad. Bye!” Jeremie called out to him as he left the room. As the door shut, he sat down on his bed, taking a minute to relax before he began unpacking everything. He started simply by organizing his clothing into the wardrobe, along with other school supplies he probably wouldn’t be needing for a while. After that was done, he started packing some of the smaller things he had in the shelves built into his bed.

After all the menial tasks were done, he focused on the large box his father had carried in. Jeremie opened the box, revealing several CPU’s and two blocky monitors. It took about an hour of connecting wires, heaving heavy monitors up, and rearranging before he had the whole system set up on the desk, taking the entire thing up.

He started up the computer, sitting down in the computer chair also provided by the school. It took him a few minutes, but he got everything turned on and working. He began connecting to the internet when he heard a knock on his door.

Getting up and opening it, he saw many of the other boys that lived on the floor standing outside their doors. Jeremie walked out into the hall, to see Jim assembling them all.

“All right, here at Kadic Academy, we have a few ground rules.” Jim started, pacing down the length of the hall. “First off, you should not for any reason be inside of your doors from 8 AM to 3 PM during your classes. Secondly, you should not leave your dorms after 10 PM unless it is an emergency...”

Jim continued down the hall, reciting more rules, telling them the cafeteria’s schedules, and so on and so forth. Everyone was beginning to become really tired of listening to him.

Unintentionally, he caught the eye of another student that lived in a dorm rather close to his. The boy was only an inch or so taller than he was, and had short brown hair. He dressed rather normally, with a pair of baggy cargo pants, and an overshirt of a similar army green color. The boy had a serious face, the one of a person you wouldn’t want to mess with.

Surprisingly, the boy nodded towards Jim, who had just passed them, and rolled his eyes, smiling afterword. Jeremie chuckled lightly at the joke, nodding in agreement.

Jim finished his speech, telling them all to get back to their whatever they were doing. Jeremie went back to his room, laying down on his bed for a bit. Checking the clock he’d set up a while back, he saw there was a whole hour until lunch was served.

He propped himself up with a pillow, silently mulling over the days events. The boy in the hall acted pretty friendly towards him, rather surprising for such a serious looking guy.

It took a few minutes of thinking before he recognized the kid as a boy who lived in his neighborhood. Ulrich Stern was his name, if he remembered correctly. They never really saw each other much, or talking much for that matter. Still, it was nice to see a familiar face at the school.

Jeremie decided he’d better start finding his way to the cafeteria, and maybe just get used to the school’s layout. He got up from his bed, checking his computer briefly to see if it had connected. Seeing that it had, he sat down for a minute, opening a folder he’d made earlier this morning.

Turning on his webcam, he began recording,

_“The Diary of Jeremie Belpois, Day 1. I got settled into my dorm a while ago, and just finished being briefed on school rules by Jim. I saw Ulrich Stern, a kid who lives in my neighborhood back home. Although I’m not quite certain, he might be an okay enough guy to be friends with. But for now, I’m just glad I got the computer connected alright. If at all possible, I might talk to one of the science teachers to see if there’s any robotics programs I can join. It may also be worth checking around the town for stores that sell anything for robotics. I have to go now, though, or else I’ll be late for lunch.”_

Turning off the webcam, he got up and left the room, joining the crowd of people walking out of the dorms to the cafeteria.


	2. September 3rd, 2002

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so this is mostly unedited. I might come back a change a few things later on, but I'm too tired to now, and if you've been reading this, I haven't updated in a week or more. Enjoy!

September 3rd, 2002

Jeremie lazily woke up the the sound of his alarm clock. Slowly but surely, he got up, dressing himself for the first day of classes. Grabbing his backpack and his class schedule, he headed out of the dorms to the cafeteria.

Rosa, the lunch-lady, greeted him friendly as he passed through the line. Still a bit tired, he ate his breakfast quietly at his own table. He surveyed the room, seeing other people sit in groups together, chatting, and comparing schedules.

He looked over to see the boy he'd met the other day sitting at table nearby, looking very annoyed by the girl sitting next to him. Jeremie didn’t recognize her, but Ulrich seemed to, and wasn’t very happy about it. He watched as the girl began talking without stop, and the boy took to glaring at his food. Looking up, he saw that Jeremie was watching, and made a face.

Like yesterday, Jeremie laughed a little, but the girl seemed to pull Ulrich’s attention away once more. Done with his breakfast and not seeing any reason to stay, he replaced his tray and left the cafeteria.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ulrich Stern sat at his own table during breakfast. Of course, he could sit with other people, though he didn’t really like to. People tended to talk to him too much, and he didn’t care for it. He was enjoying a quiet breakfast before he heard someone speak to him.

“Hello, Ulrich, dear.” said a girl walking up to his table. She was about his height, with shoulder-length black hair. She took a seat next to him, and he began to ignore her.

“Why do you always play this game with me, Ulrich-dear?” she said to him with a sigh. Ulrich rolled his eyes before answering. “Cause you always talk to me when I don’t want you to, Elizabeth.”

She scoffed at the name. “It’s _Sissi!_ ”

Ulrich nearly spat out his food in laughter. “That’s great! When’d you change it?” he said in a falsely happy voice. Oblivious to his sarcasm, Sissi went into a full-length explanation of how she was a whole new person and how she was now the prettiest at the school. He looked away, hoping she’d take the hint, when he saw a kid sitting alone at a table. 

He remembered that kid. “ _Jeremie Belpois. right? We lived in the same neighborhood._ ” 

It took him a moment to realize Jeremie was already watching him, maybe confused about Sissi. Ulrich made a face, showing that he’d really rather not be hanging around Sissi, making the blonde kid laugh a little. He smiled, before hearing Sissi say his name again.

“... are you even listening to me, Ulrich?” she said in a rather offended voice.

“yeah, I wasn’t. I gotta go to class, Sissi.” he said, gathering his tray and getting up.

“Oh, great! I can walk with you!”

“I’d rather not.” said Ulrich bluntly, leaving without another word.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Jeremie got to his biology class fairly early, with only a few tired looking kids there already. He sat at a desk by himself, and over the next few minutes, the classes trickled in. A rather stern looking woman, dressed in a lab coat, was waiting by the door as the last of the kids filed in. Right as the bell rung, she closed the door.

“Alright, children, this is biology.” the woman said, pointing to where it was written on the board. “I am your teacher, Ms. Hertz. We’ll start off the day with this equation, can anyone tell me what it is?”

She pointed to the blackboard, where “y = mx + b” was written. Almost instantly, most of the kids zoned out, thinking of the summer that was already over, and nothing related to biology at all. With a look of disapproval, she turned to her clipboard, seeking out a name to call.

“Stern! Answer the question!” she yelled.

“huh, what?” asked Ulrich, who had been staring absentmindedly out of the window. Caught by surprise, he quickly glanced at the chalkboard, his mind grasping to remember what was.

“Can anyone _else_ answer the question?” Ms. Hertz asked rather sharply, leaving Ulrich to sit there angrily. He sighed deeply before staring out of the window again, thinking of anything but school.

Jeremie sat a table ahead, waiting for someone else to answer. He didn’t really want to be the one person to answer, but the question was so obvious. He sat timidly in his seat, hoping someone else would answer. Minutes passed, and Ms. Hertz continued to glare at the class.

“Anyone?” she asked, checking her class list again for another student to call on. “Belpois! Can you answer the question?”

“Slope-intercept form, m’am.” he answered quietly. Satisfied, she turned to the blackboard to write more.

“Good job, Belpois. You should all make a note to answer my questions as quickly as Belpois did.” she said without turning to the students.

Jeremie slunk lower in his seat, avoiding the annoyed glares of the students behind him. It wasn’t his fault they didn’t know the answer!

The class continued along this theme of no one answering and Jeremie occasionally being called upon. The bell that signified the end of the class was a relief, and he sped out of the classroom.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lunch came soon afterwards. The students filed their way back to the cafeteria and helped themselves to the meal being served. Jeremie was walking through the courtyard to the rooms, slowly taking in the scenery around the school. 

Kadic Academy had a fairly large campus, mostly made up of the classrooms and dorms in the center, but it supported a large park and forest as well. From the school, you could easily walk into the city to shop or hang out with friends, making a nice area for the kids to learn in.

It was this initial survey of the grounds when Jeremie noticed it. Not too far away from the campus was a large factory - dark, imposing and broken down. It looked as if it had been abandoned for years. A solitary bridge lead from a sideroad into a loading dock. It seemed rather out of place for such a newer looking section of the city.

“I wonder why it’s here?” he thought aloud, attracting one or two glances that were quickly forgotten.

“Hm?” asked a kid from behind him. Ulrich had noticed him staring and was trying to see what had grabbed his attention.

Surprised, Jeremie turned around to see the boy standing there. He didn’t expect people to hear him or respond at all. In fact, he was barely aware he had said anything.

“Oh… nothing.” he said quickly. After a moment of awkward silence, he continued to talk. “Aren’t you Ulrich Stern?”

Ulrich looked a bit confused, before confirming it. “Yeah… and aren’t you Jeremie Belpois? We live in the same neighborhood.”

“Yeah, and I think we’ve had a few classes together before.” Jeremie continued. Ulrich nodded in agreement, before sticking out his arm. Jeremie was confused for a moment before realizing he was going for a handshake, and he returned it. Without another word, Ulrich walked off, leaving Jeremie to dwell on his thoughts.

Jeremie looked back at the building, still foreboding as ever. With a little research, he could easily figure out what it was used for, but he wasn’t so sure he wanted to. Either way, there were other things to worry about instead. Feeling rather hungry, he continued on his path to the cafeteria.


	3. September 25th, 2002

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am super fucking tired right now, and no one would read over this chapter, so here it is, raw and heavily unedited, but you guys really deserved an update.
> 
> Also, this chapter is a little under being twice the size of the fic before this update (like 2800 words or so, so be prepared.)
> 
> Again, thanks for reading, and send me any asks/questions on my tumblr!

Jeremie, exhausted, sat down in his chair facing the computer. Classes at Kadic were the same as everywhere else he had been: boring repetition of things he already knew. The only class he wasn’t excelling at was gym, which he had constantly been chided about by the teacher, Jim. The process of going through all these classes day by day was starting to take its toll on him mentally. 

Sighing, he set down his backpack, heading out of the dorms to the cafeteria for dinner. He’d heard from a few rather disgusted students that brussel sprouts were being served tonight - one of his favorites. Smiling, he walked in the fading sunlight to the small building. 

He waited in line like normal, said hello to Rosa, the lunch-lady, and found himself a seat by himself. Thinking of what homework he needed to do for tomorrow, he absent-mindedly ate the vegetables, enjoying himself a bit. After he was done, he replaced his tray, walking out of the cafeteria. 

With a thud, he ran straight into the girl that seemed to follow Ulrich around. Jeremie, being a bit small and somewhat light, was nearly thrown to the ground. The girl, upset and angry at being ran into, began chiding him. 

“Watch where you’re going, you little brat!” she yelled at Jeremie, who would have had to been the same age. He felt as if telling her this wouldn’t help his case anymore, so he quickly apologised, straightening his glasses and left in a hurry, his face a bright shade of red. 

He got back to his dorm, feeling worse than he had before dinner. Never had he imagined how horrible the girl was, and he suddenly felt bad for Ulrich, who must put up with that everyday. 

For once, he was a little glad no one was that close to him. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The next day went by as slow as ever, and biology was no exception. There was a quiz that day, and everyone was rather stressed out to say the least. Sissi was staring strangely at a question, as if nothing had yet been taught to her. Ulrich was chewing the tip of his pencil, whispering the question aloud to understand it better. 

Jeremie, who had finished said quiz a few minutes prior, looked over at Herb, who was scribbling down answers as if his life depended on it. Nervously, he looked over towards Jeremie to see how far he had progressed. Herb nearly snapped his pencil in anger, seeing the other had finished quite some time ago. 

Trying not to get Herb to hate him so much, Jeremie turned his attention elsewhere. Gazing out of the window, he observed the city in the distance. The city around Kadic was pretty peaceful, and he’d heard a few kids talk about sneaking out to visit it in the near future. The prospect of sneaking out was always rather foreign to Jeremie, and he could never imagine himself doing it. 

Once again, his eyes diverted father back, to the factory on the river. It was still there, as shabby looking as ever. Even from a distance away, the grime and broken windows were visible and came off as an obvious eyesore. 

The factory still perplexed him. Did the city not have enough funding to tear it down, or was nobody bothered by it whatsoever? 

He decided to maybe look it up in the library later, though maybe some of the teachers knew something about it? It was definitely possible, most of his teachers had been here for quite a few years. 

Jeremie was still thinking about it when the bell rung. Around half of the class groaned, turning in their incomplete quizzes. He grabbed his backpack, giving the building one last look before he left. 

All of the students were noisily filing out of the classroom, but Jeremie went over to Mrs. Hertz’s desk. Out of all of his teachers, he hypothesized that she’d know the most. Mrs. Hertz might also know if the school hosted any robotics competitions. Jeremie really needed something like that to get his mind off of school and everything else. 

“What is it, Belpois?” Mrs. Hertz asked rather sternly. Trying not to stutter, he began. 

“I was just wondering… do you know anything about the abandoned factory near the edge of town, on the Seine?” 

Mrs. Hertz looked blankly at him, wondering exactly why a student would care at all for the old building. 

“Well… It was a car factory back when it was in use. Renault, if I’m correct. It’s been abandoned for quite some time though, I’d imagine there isn’t much there anymore. Why do you ask?” 

Jeremie blanched. He hadn’t thought of some sort of excuse yet, but he tried to make one up. 

“Oh… I, uh, have a report on the city and I thought it’d be an interesting topic to bring up.” he said meagerly, tripping over his words. Mrs. Hertz stared at him for a moment, but passed it off quickly. 

Jeremie started towards the door before remembering the second topic he wanted to discuss with her. 

“Oh yeah, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about robotics competitions, would you Mrs. Hertz?” he asked nervously. The teacher looked up again. 

“Well, Kadic does hold an annual competition, but I’m afraid it’s much later in the year. Around April, if I’m correct.” she responded, checking a calendar that had been pinned to the wall. 

As she went back to her grading, Jeremie left the room slightly disappointed. It’d be the better part of a year before anything interesting would happen. The only thing that seemed appealing to him was the robotics competition , but it was months away. It wouldn’t be bad to make a few practice programs and robots to test his abilities, but getting the parts for the robots was easier said than done. The shops around the school had little to offer, and the school had nothing either. 

Jeremie gazed out of the hallway windows. The sun shone brightly over the school and the surrounding area. Again, he saw the factory, looking as dark as ever. Something still seemed off about that place, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. 

“ _Well, I do have a free period. Maybe the library could have a book about it?_ ” he thought, still staring out at the old building. 

Perhaps he should have been watching where he was going, as he slammed into someone else walking through the hall. Retrieving his glasses from the ground, he began picking up his papers, seeing the same girl from earlier in the morning, looking even more disgruntled than before. 

“How many times do I have to tell you to watch where you’re going, four-eyes!” she screeched at the top of her lungs in her shrill voice. Jeremie could almost laugh, he hadn’t been called that since second grade. 

“You know, you might have seen me if your eyes weren’t glued to your phone the whole time.” he said, picking up the last of his papers and standing up. The girl rolled her eyes at him, brushing dust off of her skirt. 

“At least I’m not staring out of the windows at all times of the day!” she snapped back, walking away in a hurry. Jeremie wasn’t sure to be offended or not, so he just continued on to the library. 

The quiet of the vast room was excellent. Jeremie smiled as he walked through the rows of books, glancing at the different covers, seeing if any of them would have more information about the factory. 

It took a good thirty minutes, but he managed to find a few books that looked promising. Sitting down at his own table, Jeremie began to read. 

And so he did. He was a good twenty minutes into the city’s metro lines when he heard a girl start talking. 

“Hey, do’ya mind if I sit here?” 

Jeremie looked up to see a rather tall girl standing there. She was asian, with straight black hair that fell right above her shoulders. She was clad in full black, with a pair of boots that added to her height. 

“Uh… sure.” Jeremie said quickly, shifting his stack of books so they didn’t take up the whole table. She thanked him silently, sat down and started working. 

He returned to his book, still finding nothing about the factory. He spent less and less time on the books, figuring that it wasn’t interesting enough to be written about. 

Looking up, the girl seemed to be distracted too. She was looking off at another part of the library, apparently more interested in it than whatever she was working on. Jeremie conspicuously looked over in the same direction, but couldn’t see from his angle. 

He sighed, closing his book, and collected them all to be put back. Surprisingly enough, one of the books belonged to the aisle the girl had been staring at. He walked through, putting back the book, but seeing nothing out of the ordinary. He passed by Ulrich, who seemed to be studying a poster put up on a shelf. 

Jeremie returned to the table, placing his stuff in his bag and preparing to go back to his dorm. The girl had returned to her work, but was still periodically glancing at whatever was in the aisle. 

Jeremie was nearly back at his dorm before it even occurred to him that she may have been watching Ulrich. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Jeremie collapsed onto his bed. Today had been a long day, and he definitely wasn’t feeling tomorrow either. 

Two encounters with the mean girl that followed Ulrich, no hope on robotics until the next year, and still nothing about the factory. And to top it off, he hadn’t connected with anybody. 

Frankly, it was just disappointing. He’d thought this school would be different, a new start. It was just the same as all the rest. 

Sighing, he looked out of his window. Even in the darkness, the factory stood out like a sore thumb to him.  Truly, he wanted to go somewhere, do something, or have a friend to do something with. 

He stared out once more, wallowing in his own loneliness. The only option to ever find something out about that factory would probably be to actually go there, but that was ridiculous. What was the point of breaking into an old abandoned building just because it seemed weird? 

“ _At least it’d be an adventure of some sort._ ” He thought, laying back down on his bed. With a smile, he imagined actually going out to see what was in there. If it was an old factory, it’d be sure to have machinery, right? Maybe some old computers. 

At that thought, he sat up, a smile across his face. 

“Well yeah, it could definitely have some stuff for robots there.” Jeremie thought aloud, the idea becoming more and more enticing as he contemplated it. In all reality, it shouldn’t be too hard to sneak off campus, as so many other kids have boasted about. 

“ _and you know what? It’d be exciting. Nothing at this school is exciting and nobody is friendly._ ” he thought. 

Jeremie looked out of the window. Nobody seemed to be outside at this hour, so he should be able to sneak out undetected if he went. The coast would be clear, it would be easy. 

Bursting with newfound energy, he grabbed his backpack, now empty of all papers and books. only stopping to look back at the clock, which read 23:45. Peering out of his room, he saw no one. Thankful of his luck,  he snuck down the hall and down the stairs, making it out of the dormitory building. 

He stuck very closely to the walls, so no one saw him through the windows. The dark courtyards of the school echoed every noise he made, but no one was out to notice. 

Jeremie ventured on until he saw them - the black iron gates that opened up to the streets of the city. He started to make a break for the gates, when he remembered that they were locked two hours ago. 

Suddenly, the rush of adrenaline that nudged him to sneak out stopped. Jeremie stood there in the dark and the cold, realising exactly where he was. 

“ _What am I doing here?_ ” he thought dreadfully, looking around at the dark trees that surrounded him. The campus could be quite creepy at night. 

“ _I should just go… maybe I can sneak back before-_ ” Jeremie thought, before a shout interrupted him. 

“Hey! Who’s there?” 

Jeremie seized up. He had forgotten that the gardner was posted right next to gates, and if he didn’t move now, he’d be in a lot of trouble. In a panic, he ran back down the path he came, trying to remember what courtyard led back to his room. 

To make things worse, he spotted Jim up ahead, patrolling the courtyards, seeing if students were out and about. He shined his flashlight a few feet away from Jeremie, who froze instantly. Panicking, he ran back, intending to go back into the dorms. 

“Hey! I hear you, you’d better come out now!” he heard Jim yell. Jeremie hadn’t noticed noticed how much noise he was making before, but continued to run at breakneck speed. Jim appeared to not be as fast, allowing Jeremie to duck into a small building he didn’t recognize. 

“Where’d you go?” he heard Jim yell from outside the building. “When I find you...”. Jim’s voice started to fade away, allowing Jeremie to calm down for a moment. 

“ _What a stupid idea._ ” he thought in retrospect. “ _How far did I imagine getting? and more importantly, where am I?_ ” 

He looked around, seeing cleaning supplies and sports equipment. Seeking another exit, he wandered around until he came into a much smaller room. Boxes were stacked messily on top of each other, and everything was coated in a layer of dust. Apparently, the room wasn’t used enough to even be cleaned. The only interesting thing about the room was a red door. It stood out against the dull grey walls of the room, and was the only other exit from this room. 

“I hope you lead to the dorms.” he whispered as he approached it. Opening the door, he was met by a rush of cold air and bright light. The door opened into a tunnel, carved messily into the rock. A set of stairs twisted downwards and out of sight. 

Jeremie looked back, making sure no one else was there. This was ominous, to say the least. 

“ _What?_ ” he thought to himself, “ _This can’t be part of the school... maybe I should leave it alone and tell the principal._ ” 

“No... no I can’t.” he said aloud. “Then I’d have to explain why I was even down here...” 

Trying to raise the courage he had only moments ago, he set down the stairs, making sure the door closed behind him. The tunnel was hewn into the solid rock underneath the ground in a very messy way, as if it had needed to be completed fast. The lights made the tunnel look bright orange, and were hung up on a wire that stretched along the entirety of the wall. The whole place was very suspicious indeed. 

The stairs went on for a minute or so before ending a small entrance, formerly covered by a mesh screen that was now ripped apart. Stepping through it, he found himself in the sewers. 

“I must be way under Kadic now....” he thought, staring up at the massive stone walls. Narrow stone walkways jutted out from the curved walls, bordered on the other side be a smelly, dirty stream of water that had to come from drains all around the city. 

Jeremie looked down the tunnel, stretching almost out of sight. The end of the tunnel was too far to make out, but a pinprick of light told him it lead somewhere. 

“ _Wait… don’t these sewers lead out into the river?_ ” he thought, straining to see what was at the end of the tunnel. 

“ _If they do, they might lead me over to the factory. I think it’s going in that direction…_ ”. Mentally taking a note of the passage back up to the school, he followed the walkway. 

The scent of sewage was overwhelming and the stone floor was as cold as ice. If he had known that he’d end up walking such a length, then he’d of brought his scooter with him. Nonetheless, he hoped this disgusting trip would be worth it. 

As the pinprick of light came closer, the more anxious he became. The tunnel stopped abruptly, ending with a large grate that opened into the outside. It was around midnight by now, and the moon shined brightly in the night sky, reflecting off of the river the sewer fed into. 

Looking away from the grate, he noticed a small, metal ladder that lead to the ground above. Jeremie ascended it, pulling away the small metal covering. Clambering out, he discovered himself on a bridge, leading from the mainland to a small, man-made island situated in the middle of the river. Upon it, silhouetted in the moonlight, was the broken down and abandoned factory he was looking for. 

Jeremie surveyed the area, now noticing that it was out in the open where anyone could see him. He dashed across the bridge, noticing that no one, thankfully, was there in the middle of the night. The bridge lead to a large opening in the factory, probably meant for trucks and other vehicles to unload their cargo onto. As he got closer to the factory, he noticed the all the graffiti plastered over the walls, the dirt and grime that clung to everything, and the foggy, dirtied and broken windows. 

Jeremie tentatively walked into the building, finding himself on a balcony that extended around the whole floor, looking over the main assembly line. There wasn’t much left, except old, decaying storage boxes. He looked around for a way down to the main floor, spotting a set of stairs in front of him. Taking a step down, he realised that the entire staircase was gone. 

Narrowly avoiding a fall to his death, he jumped backwards to the safety of the balcony. He looked around for another way down, only spotting a thick black cable hung from the ceiling. 

Jeremie tugged on it, and it held. He closed his eyes, before sliding down the rope to the main floor. His eyes opened to a dusty floor, and more old supplies. 

He set off down the walkway, going past a broken down elevator. Seeing an exit to the right, Jeremie went through it to find a large, separate room that looked in disrepair. 

The room was large, with a stone staircase that lead downwards. The conveyor belt was as unused as the rest of the building, with various machines frozen in place, as if they were shut down in the middle of production. 

“Creepy…” he murmured to himself, staring at one of the machines. He looked among the workplace, scouring for anything he could use for his robots. 

“Ah ha!” he said, finding a bin full of metal plates. He searched around more, finding a few circuit boards on the conveyor belt. He collected a few of his finds, placing them in his backpack. A little unhappy with the weight of them, he exited the room, excited for what else the old building might contain. 

For hours, Jeremie roamed through the building. He found himself at the front of the building, with a lookout over the river. It was sadly beautiful, the building in such ruin and the view so grand. A computer room was closeby, and he found a large amount of wiring and circuit boards there. 

When he felt he could carry no more materials, he wandered to the main floor to find an exit. It was just the same as it was when he entered hours ago, the only difference being the footprints he left in the thick dust that had settled over the ground. 

Jeremie got back to the rope, figuring that he’d have to climb to get back up the exit. Nervously, he realised he might not be able to with his heavy backpack. 

“ _There’s gotta be some other way…_ ” Jeremie deduced, searching around. The elevator he’d passed was still there, and it was worth a shot. 

Walking over to it, he pressed the button on it’s panel, but nothing happened. Light seeped out from the space under the door, which implied that the machine still worked. Weirdly enough, the elevator seemed to be in fairly good condition as well. 

“ _Weird… all the other machines are broken down, and some are far more modern than this one…_ ” Jeremie thought. This perplexed him the most though, was the button just broken, or what? 

Intrigued, he investigated the panel, which was suspiciously new looking in comparison to everything else. Jeremie didn’t see anything out of the ordinary as he inspected it. There was something off about it though. Something as unused as the panel shouldn’t be broken. 

On a whim, he pulled at it, and it came off easily, revealing a worn secondary panel. Surprised, he saw that only four numbers had ever been used, and quite well, seeing as the paint had nearly worn off. 

He punched in the code, opening the thin metal door. The elevator was a faded green, with a  single yellow light bulb that flooded the room with its glow. 

Curiously, Jeremie stepped inside. The door closed behind him, shutting him off from the rest of the factory. The panel inside showed the same wear as the hidden one had. 

Hesitantly, Jeremie pressed the down button. With a worrying lurch, the elevator descended downwards. He waited nervously as he felt the elevator go deeper and deeper into the building. At one point, he was sure he heard the river outside of the walls, but he tried his hardest not to think about it. 

After a good four minutes, the elevator halted, and the door receded, revealing a massive locked metal door. Looking down at the elevators tiny panel, he tried a few different combinations of the worn numbers until one of them worked. 

Electricity surged along one of the plates, and the door unlocked, splitting apart with a massive noise to reveal a large green room. 

“Woah!” Jeremie yelled, the rush of air assaulting him as the doors slid upon. The first thing Jeremie noticed was the mainframe hanging from a structure on the ceiling. It was a large four-windowed monitor, connected to a foreign looking keyboard. It was powered down, and covered in a layer of dust, much like the building above. 

“What is this?” Jeremie inquired incredulously. He supposed that the factory had some sort of computer system, but he had already seen it upstairs, along with the broken control center. This was something else entirely. 

No one else probably knew it was here, the elevator looked out of order to anyone who wandered in, and he was fairly sure this room wasn’t meant to be found, since the panel to even go down had been hidden twice. Something was definitely up with this. 

It worried him. 

There was nothing to turn the computer on, however. He searched around a bit, finding nothing else. Jeremie spent a few moments investigating the large structure in the center, which seemingly had no function. 

“ _Well, it might make sense if the main computer was actually set up somewhere else, but where?_ ” he thought, reviewing the information he knew. 

The elevator, it went down further, didn’t it? Jeremie looked back towards it, the doors still wide open. He went back inside, investigating the panel even further. 

The buttons only showed three floors that it’d go down to, the main level, and an upper level whose button was cracked. The elevator had no indication of what level he was on, and with how far down he had gone, it could have been any of them. 

“ _Well, I guess I could check the lowest one, then I’d know for sure which level I’m on._ ” Jeremie deducted, and with only a few worries, he called the elevator down to the bottom. Both doors closed, and again Jeremie descended down further into the basements. 

The ride was shorter than the initial ride down, but it still took weirdly long to get there. He felt the elevator touch the bottom of the shaft, and the door opened to a similar set of heavily locked doors. The temperature had suddenly gone down to being uncomfortably cold, Jeremie noticed as he punched in the code again, opening this new door. 

The room was similar to the one above, though it was completely barren and gave off a bluish glow. A blast of arctic air met Jeremie, and he shivered as he stepped into the room. 

As soon he did, the center floor split into three, and a massive tower rose out from the depths. The black tower reached it’s full height, a good four feet taller than Jeremie. At his height, a small panel opened, revealing a switch. 

Jeremie gazed up in wonder. He knew what this was, but he couldn’t believe his eyes. It couldn’t be, not in the dingy basement of some old building?

But it was, there was no doubt about it. He had found a _supercomputer_.


	4. September 26th, 2002

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the fateful discovery of the supercomputer, Jeremie is obsessed with discovering it's secrets.

Jeremie awoke to the loud noise of his alarm clock. He groaned, and slowly got up to turn it off. Today, Jeremie really wasn’t in the mood for school. He wasn’t exactly used to sleeping for one or two hours a night.

“ _and I never will be._ ” Jeremie thought grumpily.

Bemoaning the fact that school started in an hour and that his room was so bright in the morning, Jeremie slowly changed back into his day clothes and prepared himself for the inevitable struggle that would be that day.

However tired he was, though, Jeremie still had one thing to keep him going. A secret no one knew, something that no one else would probably ever know.

As he trudged down to the cafeteria, he thought back on last night’s events. Jeremie could remember everything vividly - the harsh cold of the lab, the thick layers of dust all over, the metal switch that could reveal the biggest mystery he had ever encountered.

It was all back there, buried underneath that factory, far from prying eyes. As excited as he was though, it wasn’t comforting. Someone had put it there, someone had made it, and most importantly, someone tried to hide it.

But why? The dormant computer could tell him no secrets. If he were to turn it on though…

“ _I wish I could… but… what if something happens? I can’t possibly explain how I found it, that’ll get me suspended for sure._ ” Jeremie thought. It was tempting, so very very tempting to activate it, but it was too dangerous.

“ _I guess I’ll leave it be for now. No harm in not doing anything, right?_ ”

Breakfast was just about the same as any other day, and like any other day Jeremie got his own table and ate alone. It didn’t bother him though, because of last night, he thought of designing some test robots in his spare time. Combine that with all of the homework he got, it was more than enough to take up all of his time.

Around an hour later, Jeremie joined the crowd of kids heading to the science building. Jeremie nearly felt like passing out after the climb up to the higher floors, but managed to get into the classroom in time.

“I’m never staying up late again…” Jeremie mumbled to himself as he sat down at his desk.

The bell rung all of a sudden, and then there was the familiar slam of the door as Ms. Hertz closed it. The low hum of voices stopped as Ms. Hertz began speaking.

“Well, class, we’re doing a lab today-” She began before a chorus of groans came from the class. Jeremie sighed heavily, he wasn’t awake enough for this.

“Be quiet!” Ms. Hertz yelled shrilly, “I told you yesterday, and you should be prepared for it. I’m partnering you all into groups of two…”

Jeremie tried hard to listen but Ms. Hertz was, well, fairly boring. He barely realised he had his lab papers before he heard someone walk up to him.

“Belpois, wake up, I’m your partner.” The boy said, slipping into the seat next to him.

Hazily, Jeremie looked over to see Ulrich Stern sitting next to him, quickly scribbling his name on the top of the paper.

“Oh, hey Stern.” Jeremie managed to stutter out before looking over his paper. As exciting as it sounded, he really wasn’t in the mood to do a lab on different environments.

“You look dead, Belpois, what’d you do, stay up all night studying?” Ulrich smirked, looking over at Jeremie, who was now laying face down in his papers.

“Oh, what?” Jeremie said loudly, looking around confused. Ulrich grimaced before turning back to his paper.

“Well this sucks, I was hoping you could help me with this. I’m not that great with biology.” Ulrich said, frowning at his paper.

“Sorry,” Jeremie said quietly, sitting back up. “I think I got about an hour of sleep last night. I was out all-”

Jeremie froze suddenly, realising what he was saying. Ulrich looked over at him suspiciously.

“You were out all night?” He asked incredulously.

‘U-uh, no, that’s not what I said.”

“Uh huh.” Ulrich replied, rolling his eyes. “Either way, get moving, I can’t do this myself.”

“Alright,” Jeremie agreed, picking up his pencil and reviewing what the lab said. It was simple enough, a reading and a few real-world examples that would prove you read what you were supposed to.

The two worked on for quite some time, their quietness in stark contrast to the loud talking of everyone else in the room.

Ulrich chewed on his eraser, trying to imagine exactly why certain fungi were necessary to the forest when a paper airplane landed right in his way. Scowling, he picked it up and unfolded it.

“ _To my dear Ulrich,_ ”  It began, and he was already done reading it. He crumpled it in his hand and threw it at the nearest trash can.

“What was that all about?” Jeremie asked, eyeing the annoyed look on his face.

Ulrich sighed. “Sissi Delmas.”

“Who?”

Ulrich looked at him in surprise. “The principal’s daughter. She’s flipped for me somehow and she follows me around _constantly_.”

“ _Oh, the mean girl_.” Jeremie thought. “Oh her, I didn’t know her name.” he said aloud.

“Lucky you.” Ulrich replied back harshly.

“You really don’t like her do you?”

Ulrich sighed again, dropping whatever question he was trying to answer. “Kind of. She’d be alright if she didn’t bother me constantly. Like that’d ever happen though.”

“Ah…” Jeremie said, sensing it was time to drop it. The two worked a little more on their papers before Ulrich spoke again.

“So, where’d you sneak out to?”

Jeremie nearly dropped his pencil in surprise. Ulrich had caught on quickly - he couldn’t fool this kid.

“I told you, I didn’t sneak out.” Jeremie repeated. “I… stayed up all night building robots.”

“Building robots?” Ulrich replied unbelievingly.

“Yeah, those smaller ones they use in robotics competitions. Not to brag, but I’m pretty good with them."

Ulrich snorted loudly. Jeremie wasn’t sure if he was laughing at him or with him, but it made him happy nonetheless.

It wasn’t long before the bell rung again, signifying the end of class. Like most days, people groaned in frustration at their unfinished papers. Ulrich and Jeremie managed to finish in the nick of time, and slowly began packing their bags.

“Hey, thanks for the help, Belpois. I probably wouldn’t have finished without your help.” Ulrich said a little quietly as he slipped his books back into his bag.

“No problem, anytime.” Jeremie replied. Ulrich put out his hand, surprising Jeremie. Quickly, he realised it was a handshake and reciprocated. WIthout another word, Ulrich left the room, Jeremie soon following suit.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Later that night, Jeremie was laying in his bed, worn out from the day. He had thought about spending a little time on his robots, but he wasn’t feeling anymore.

Questions still stirred in his head. The factory was never far from his thoughts now. He just couldn’t stop wondering what it could possibly be, any reason an entire supercomputer would be in the depths of an old factory.

Everytime he came to the same answer - He couldn’t know unless he turned it on.

There wasn’t any other way.

Jeremie looked out of his window. Although he couldn’t see it from there, he knew the factory still sat somewhere out there, the mystery of a lifetime locked away in a secret basement.

He had to do it.

There wasn’t any other way.

Jeremie laid back down on his bed, staring back up at the ceiling.

“I have to turn it on.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5 should be coming within the next two weeks! Also, an introduction to a new character! Can you guess who?


	5. October 6th, 2002

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, another three month or so period between updates. I'd like to say this won't happen again, but who knows? Honestly, it shouldn't happen between this chapter and the next, but don't expect the next one to be out too soon.
> 
> Hopefully this chapter is long enough to satisfy, and the new character might help with that a little. Enjoy!

Jeremie sat quietly in biology that morning. He stared out of the window, his gaze fixed at a location across town. He impatiently tapped his pencil, waiting to class to be over.

“ _Tonight’s the night. I’m gonna do it. I have to do it._ ” Jeremie thought incessantly. It had been his only thought for weeks. Maybe if he had been more brave, he’d have done it by now, but every time, Jeremie couldn’t muster up the courage. Tonight would be different though, he had to go or he’d never know.

Whatever Mrs. Hertz was saying didn’t make it through to him; he was too deep in thought. The hour went by slowly, and Jeremie raced out after the bell. Jeremie walked onward, trying hard to make the day pass by quicker.

He ate lunch alone, like he did most days, though he didn’t care about it one bit today. Jeremie was simply too excited by the thought of a supercomputer, his own supercomputer, hidden away where no one would find it.

It raised so many questions though. Why on earth would there be a supercomputer hidden away in the depths of an old abandoned factory?

Maybe he’d figure that out tonight as well.

* * *

Jeremie sat anxiously at his computer, adjusting his camera.

“The Diary of Jeremie Belpois, October 6th, 2002. I’ve decided that I must try to activate the supercomputer tonight. It’s been eating at me for weeks, but I have to know, and the only way I can is by turning it on. I’ll report my findings when I get back.”

Jeremie sighed, shutting the camera off and saving the file. The diary had actually been an excellent way of keeping his thoughts organized, and it helped him try not to think about the factory too much.

Not enough to stop him, though. Jeremie nervously got up, his shaking hands reaching for his backpack. He _had_ to go, it was the only way.

Checking his clock, he saw that it was about ten at night. At worst, he could make up an excuse for why he was out if he ran into Jim in the halls. Hopefully it wouldn’t happen.

Quietly, Jeremie walked out of his room, closing his door behind him. Jeremie walked calmly down the halls, trying not to sprint. Turning a corner, he suddenly was knocked to the ground. Re-adjusting his glasses and looking upwards, he saw Jim standing there, looking surprised.

“Belpois! What are you doing out this late? You should be in your room, _sleeping!_ ” he said sternly, looking down at him. Jeremie, panicking, nervously replied:

“I... uh... forgot my laptop in the library. I was… uh… hoping they’d still be open so I could get it.”

Jim mulled it over, before speaking again.

“Alright, just do it _quickly_ , Belpois. I’ve already had one kid wandering around in the dark and I don’t want another!” Jeremie quickly ran down the hall, trying as hard as he could to not be suspicious.

Jeremie wouldn’t stop running until he reached the red door. He hadn’t run into Jim other than the one time in the halls, and had luckily found the storage room again.

Making sure no one had followed him, he opened the door, orange light spilling into the room. Walking down the tunnel, he stepped out into the sewers.

“I really need to remember my scooter next time.” Jeremie murmured, remembering the great distance from his position to the factory.

For what seemed like forever, Jeremie walked down the cold sewers, trembling slightly from the cold, and the anxiety within him.

Eventually, he saw the end of the sewer, a metal ladder extending upwards. Jeremie climbed it quickly, clambering out onto a bridge. Like the time before, Jeremie ran across, hoping no one was out in the dead of the night to see him.

The factory remained as dingy as ever, scored with grime and graffiti. Stopping at the broken staircase, Jeremie noted the black cable that still hung from the ceiling. Making sure it still remained secure, he readied himself and slid down, landing unsteadily on his feet.

Once more, Jeremie made sure he was alone before walking to the “broken” elevator. He pulled off the fake panel and punched in the code he’d remembered from his last outing.

The elevator opened, and Jeremie hesitantly stepped inside. Hands shaking, he sent the elevator down to the bottom floor. Suddenly blaring to life, the elevator sunk downwards as Jeremie waited, his stomach lurching with fear.

The metal doors unhinged, pulling apart with a loud noise. A wave of arctic air met him again, and he stepped into the gloomy metal room. The center floor split into three, and a massive tower rose out from the depths. The CPU towered above him, extending a small switch.

Jeremie reached for it, before stopping.

“ _Have I really thought this out?_ ” He thought, his hand quivering. “ _What if something bad happens? Should I have just reported this to the police?_ ”

Jeremie closed his eyes, balling his hand into a fist. He had chosen to go out here tonight, he had decided he would turn on the computer, and damn it, he was going to.

“Okay, Jeremie, it’s just a computer, nothing to worry about.” he reminded himself, tiptoeing closer.

Jeremie rested his hand on the handle, letting out a deep breath.

“I hope I’m not gonna regret this is a minute.”

He pulled the handle down, and the computer blared with noise, sending a wave of energy through the room. Jeremie, slightly dazed, fixed his hair and returned to the elevator. He called it two floors up, to the interface room he had found earlier.

As the metal doors opened, he found the room the same as the last time. The computer still hung, motionless and off, the chair waiting to be occupied.

Jeremie sat down, and the chair automatically whisked him around to the interface, still turned off and covered in dust.

“Alright, let’s see what’s under the hood.” Jeremie said, trying hard to sound confident. With the press of a button, the monitors turned on, all of them loading slowly.

The computer opened up to a blank, blue desktop. There were no normal applications, except for a small box that accepted commands.

“What?” Jeremie asked, searching the four monitors for anything of interest: government files, secret documents… but nothing was there besides the command prompt. Jeremie was severely underwhelmed. For such a secret and hidden thing it was, well, boring. Maybe there was more to it than he knew?

“I guess I could try a few of the codes…” Jeremie said, scanning them. Nothing looked familiar to any code he had used, maybe whoever built it had developed it on their own?

There was one word that stood out, appearing multiple times: Lyoko. It sounded like a made-up word, or some sort of name.

“Hmm… is that some sort of class?” Jeremie wondered aloud. If nothing else, he could just try typing out the code he saw there. Maybe it’d give him _some_ idea of what this computer’s purpose was.

Sighing deeply, he typed out the first one. All of a sudden, a small box opened up, establishing a connection between the computer and… Lyoko?

_What’s Lyoko?_ He wondered again. It was… connecting to it now?

“CONNECTING TO LYOKO… CONNECTING.” crackled from the unused speakers. After a few minutes, the boxes all closed, bringing up a singular one in its place.

The box contained the single image of a girl, no younger than he was, with bright pink hair and pointed ears. The girl looked somewhat like an elf, and she was sleeping.

“A video game?” Jeremie questioned, looking to see if there were anymore options. As if she heard him, the girl woke.

“Huh? Who are you? Where am I?” she said in a panic. Jeremie froze, staring at the screen. _Did it just speak to him?_

“Hello?” the girl continued, looking right back at him. Jeremie glanced over his shoulder, making sure she was speaking to him.

“Huh?” Jeremie muttered, his glasses slipping a bit. The girl was staring straight at him, a look of worry and confusion on her face.

“h-Hello?” Jeremie responded back finally, confused. “Are you a video game?”

“A… video game?” she repeated back to him, equally confused. “I don’t know what that is.”

“I guess not.” Jeremie whispered to himself. “Are you an application, or some form of artificial intelligence?”

The girl looked back at him, confused still.

“Why are you here?” she asked, a look of concern on her face. Jeremie hesitated for a moment. Was he supposed to tell her? For all he knew, she could be a sort of security program, just waiting to catch someone breaking into the computer.

The A.I. waited still, looking more confused and worried as Jeremie remained silent. He could just tell the truth: he had no idea what he was doing and he found this by accident, but who would believe him?

“I, uh… I happened upon the computer by accident.” Jeremie said shakily, trying to remain calm. “I wanted to figure out what the computer was for, so I turned it on.”

The A.I. stayed silent, processing what he was saying. Jeremie gulped audibly, worried that he had said too much. Studying her more, Jeremie thought she didn’t look automated and programmed like he would have expected, in fact, she looked rather real, or at the very least designed to be very lifelike.

It was both troubling and comforting. She looked _friendly_ , if he had to put it in words. Trying to both break the silence and figure out more, he asked a question.

“Do you have a name of any sort?”

Looking surprised, she seemed to think for a moment, before answering again.

“No, not that I can remember. Do you have a name?”

Jeremie froze again. Once more would he be giving her incriminating evidence that he’d been here. Only now, it was looking more and more like she knew just as little as he did.

“Uh… well… My name is Jeremie Belpois, and I’m a student at Kadic Academy, a school not far from here.” he said nervously, waiting for her to respond.

She smiled, looking a little more comfortable to have a name to this person she was talking to. Jeremie was slightly offput by this, it was very human-like.

“Jair-ram-me.” she sounded it out, looking pleased with herself. Jeremie smiled a little, before getting back to seriousness. The question was still bothering him, what was the computer doing here? Why was it here, and why does it have such an advanced A.I.?

“What’s your purpose here, on the computer?” Jeremie asked, trying not to sound as scared and confused as he really was.

“I’m not exactly sure.” The A.I. said, though with enough hesitance that Jeremie wasn’t quite sure if he believed her. If she was a program, maybe she could access other files on the computer?

“Can you access other files on the computer?” he asked, leaning in closer to the screen. She looked down, appearing to be interacting with an object outside of his screen.

“Yes, it appears that I can.” she said, seemingly preoccupied. Jeremie frowned, was she programmed to act like that? Surely that was some sort of animation to make it look like she was accessing files?

“w-What are you doing?” he asked, caught up over the fact. The A.I. looked up up at him, and back down again.

“I’m at an interface that allows me contact with files on the computer.” she stated simply. She looked all around her, even turning completely around to “see” whatever was behind her.

“I’m in a tower of some sort. I can’t see any sort of exit. It’s dark, and it looks like I’m on a platform with a weird symbol on it…”

Jeremie gulped. A virtual environment? It sounded a lot like a game, but the A. I. seemed more human-like than any other sort of game he’d played. It didn’t seem to have pre-programmed responses either. It was all troubling.

“Hm… It might be best for you to stay where you are for the moment, while we try to figure out where you are.” Jeremie explained.

“Alright.” the A.I. said, appearing to stay put. Jeremie scanned the rest of the code from the history to see if it revealed anything. It didn’t reveal much, and most of the code seemed to be completely unrelated to the A.I.

Gazing at his watch, he saw that it was two in the morning, way too late for him to be able to sneak back in.

“Uh oh! I really have to go.” He cried urgently. The girl stared back at him, looking less confused and more curious.

“Wait, where do you have to go? Are you coming back?” She asked, sounding a little worried.

Jeremie stopped suddenly.  He looked back and saw her harried expression. Was she afraid he wouldn’t be back? To be honest, it was kind of saddening to see the A.I. so worried.

_But if it’s a program, why do I care?_   He thought for a second. It was interesting that he would feel that way at all about a program, though it was so human he could have just been empathizing with it. It was the sheer range and realness of her expressions that caught him off guard. Someday, he’d like to have a long talk with whoever programmed such a thing.

“Uh… well, I have to get back to the school.” He answered, grabbing his backpack and getting out of the chair. Before he could get away, he heard her talk.

“What’s a school?” she asked.

Jeremie stopped in place, sighing a little. Of course… she’d probably know very little if anything about Earth, and she seemed to be the curious type. On one hand, he could just leave and get back to school and get caught by Jim… or he could answer her. It was just explaining the concept of school, it wouldn’t take more than a few minutes, could it? He set his bag back down and sat in the chair.

“A school is somewhere kids go to learn. Students there are required to take certain lessons, and there’s different classes for each one.” Jeremie explained,

The girl looked mystified by the topic. She seemed to think for a moment, before beginning again.

“What lessons are taught at a school? Who goes to a school? Who would be defined as a student?” Her eyes gleamed with the excitement of a thousand questions.

Jeremie sat there, mouth agape. This was the most enthusiasm he’d ever seen about school. Laughing a little, he prepared to answer, but was cut off.

“What was the noise you just made?” She asked, giving him an inquisitive look. Jeremie sat confused for a moment, before realizing she didn’t know what _laughter_ was.

“It’s called laughing. When someone says something funny or tells a joke, people laugh. It’s a happy kind of noise, you know?” Jeremie explained, reclining in the chair. The girl looked a little confused, before making a laughing noise of her own.

_She also just learned from me._ Jeremie thought. _Imitation, though it wasn’t the same, like it recorded my voice and changed it_. It sounded real, like she had genuinely tried to laugh.

“Was that right?” she asked, smiling. It was completely odd, but he couldn’t help himself from smiling. She was the most interesting person, no, program? that he’d ever met before.

“What are those strange things covering your eyes?” the A.I. asked very quickly afterwards. Jeremie chuckled a little at her enthusiasm. He made himself comfortable in the chair, with her asking questions at this rate, he’d be here all night.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for reading! If you ever want to message me or anything, please do send me one on my tumblr!
> 
> Writing tumblr - http://tboc-writes.tumblr.com/  
> My Main tumblr - http://therealtboc.tumblr.com/
> 
> feel free to leave me a message!
> 
> NOTE - no matter how long it's been since the last chapter, I have not abandoned this fic! This is my pride and joy right now, but sadly school has been in the way. I'll try my hardest to get more done!


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